A poems by Ihor Pavlyuk, translated from Ukrainian by Matvii Smirnov
A Meeting With An Old Veteran Friend
I met my friend from the good old days
For a pint of stout.
We had our sorrows to drink away,
We talked about
Our friends at sea – some still alive,
Some traveled far,
About our times that rumbled like
A railway car,
We drank to all those dated things
What were they, though?
The sins and worries that in spring
Would melt like snow?
The dream of Lenin’s paradise
Had gone away.
No need to rush – the one who dies
Shall have his wake.
So, there we were, the beer was cold,
Young was the night,
It felt so early, the trees were gold,
It felt so nice,
The chirping swallows swung in haste
And flew across.
I heard the medals clink against
His iron cross,
And then I gave him the book I wrote.
So, there we sat –
Two sober men by the endless road,
So clear, so sad.
ЗУСТРІЧ ЗІ СТАРИМ ДРУГОМ-ВЕТЕРАНОМ
Зустрів учора старого друга
За чорним пивом.
Пустили наше буття по кругу,
Сумні, щасливі.
Пили душевно за тих, що в морі,
За тих, що в морзі…
За те, що час наш, як потяг скорий,
Пішов по торзі.
За те, що трохи іще зосталось.
Чого?
Навіщо?
Гріхи й тривоги,
Як води талі,
Зійдуть у вічність.
Прийти ніхто вже не обіцяє
До комунізму.
Куди? Навіщо ми поспішаєм?
Хіба на тризну?..
…Сиділи з другом
За чорним пивом
Під жовтим кленом.
Було нам ранньо,
Було красиво,
Було зелено.
Летіли птахи, пір’я скидали.
Лилася пісня.
Дзвеніли сипко в друга медалі
Об хрест залізний.
А я в дарунок дістав із сумки
Книжку поезій…
Було нам вічно,
Було нам сумно,
Було тверезо.
Ihor Pavlyuk is a distinguished Ukrainian poet, prose writer, translator, and scholar. holding. A leading researcher at the Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv, he holds a Doctorate in Social Communication and also serves as Professor of Ukrainian Media at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv.
Recipient of the English PEN Award (2013) and the Switzerland Literary Prize (2021), Ihor Pavlyuk is a member of English PEN and the European Society of Authors. He has represented Ukraine at major international literary festivals in Estonia, Georgia, Russia, Belarus, Germany, Italy, the United States, Poland, Turkey, Ireland, Pakistan, England, and the Czech Republic. His works have been translated into numerous languages, including Russian, Belarusian, Polish, English, French, Latvian, Bulgarian, and Japanese. Pavlyuk’s poetry and prose have appeared in prestigious international journals such as The Apple Valley Review, Muddy River Poetry Review, Asymptote, Gold Dust, The Adirondack Review, The Recusant, Metamorphoses, Eurasia Review, and World Poets Quarterly among others. He is the subject of two documentary films—”Between Bug” and “God and Voice,” and his poems have been read and performed by American and British actors. His collection A Flight over the Black Sea, translated by Steve Komarnyckyj won the Writers in Translation Award from English PEN, earning him international recognition. For more information, visit: Wikipedia.
Matvii Smirnov, born in Lviv, Ukraine, in 1974 is a Ukrainian poet living in the United Kingdom. He is also known for his work as a translator of contemporary Ukrainian poetry. His Ukrainian poetry and English translations have been featured in various Ukrainian and international literary magazines and anthologies.
